"Roland Perry" wrote in message
news:1108905962.fda3e664afabb66344e4a09aaa06fb1b@t eranews...
In message , at 12:21:32 on Sun,
20 Feb 2005, Brimstone remarked:
The Highway code is the document to which drivers are referred by HM
Government and other bodies.

Bit it cannot, and does not, go into the full details of every offence.

In this case it fudges it by saying:

"Street lights usually mean that there is a 30 mph speed limit
unless there are signs showing another limit."

Note the "usually".

It's obvious there has to be *some* limit, otherwise a street lamp in
one village, followed by another a mile away in the next village,
could be construed to make the entire stretch between the two
villages a 30mph zone.

Sensible people would realise that a gap such as you suggest is a break
in the limit. Even if they don't they are "failing safe".

I would suggest that if you are driving in open countryside on a 60pmh
road, and jam on the brakes when you get to a 400yds lit section where a
side-road joins, that you'd be anything but "safe".

Ah. A voice of common sense! Restrictions need to be signposted in advance
to allow you to take appropriate action *gradually*. Explicit signs and
signals are much better than requiring drivers to infer: that's why I'm in
favour of an explicit headlamp-flash (or better still, another less
ambiguous signal) if you are going to let someone pull out in front of you,
rather than having the other driver think "is he or isn't he letting me
go?" - indecision and two people thinking differently is what leads to
accidents.

Another think that there should be more use of is those speed limint
reminder signs that only light up if you're exceeding the limit. There's a
bugegr of a 50 limit on an otherwise 70 mph dual carriageway west of Oxford
and they recently fitted two of these signs at each end, one just before the
fixed sign and one just after. Seeing a "50" in a big red circle that's only
there if you're exceeding the limit is an excellent way of reminding you
that you're over the limit.

Whenver I come across a speed limit that seems to be absurdly low (eg 30 on
a road that I'd judge to be safe up to 50 or 60) I always do two things:
firstly I keep repeating to myself "this is a 30 limit, this is a 30 limit"
to help me avoid gradually drifting back up to 60; secondly I look all
around me to see if I can spot the hazard that I might initially have missed
which justifies such a low limit. Sadly there are some 30 limits which have
me baffled and can only have been "justified" by residents' dislike of fast
traffic rather than for any road-safety reasons.